The Avenue of the Volcanoes

Running for 200 miles south of Quito between two parallel cordilleras, Ecuador’s “Avenue of the Volcanoes” contains seven peaks more than 17,000 feet high.

DURATION

3 Days – 2 nights

WEAR

Comfortable Warm clothing, hiking boots, hat, jacket, and sunscreen, clothes for 3 days, any medicine you use, bottle of water, a small backpack for the treks.

INCLUDED

Escorted tour

2 Nights of accommodation

Private transportation

Breakfast, snacks and water during the drive.

NOT INCLUDED

Any additional expenses, tips

Cotopaxi National Park which is located just a 90-minute drive south of Quito down the Pan-American Highway. A perfectly symmetrical 19,348-foot snow cone, Cotopaxi could well be the world’s most beautiful volcano. It stands in majestic and solitary splendor, surrounded by the tawny and wind-swept páramo (highlands). It is possible just to admire the celebrated view, cougars can sometimes be spotted, also ducks, rabbits, weasel.

The Quilotoa that is a water-filled caldera with 3-kilometer (2 mi)-wide caldera that was formed by the collapse of the volcano following a catastrophic eruption about 600 years ago, The caldera has since accumulated water which has a greenish color as a result of dissolved minerals.

The tallest, 20,565-foot Chimborazo, was long thought to be the highest mountain in the world. (In fact, it is, when measured from the center of the earth, owing to the planet’s equatorial bulge.) The term Avenue of the Volcanoes was coined by the German explorer Alexander von Humboldt “the greatest scientific traveler who ever lived,” according to Charles Darwin — who journeyed through Ecuador in 1802, climbing to 19,286 feet on Chimborazo, a world record at the time.

Cotopaxi

In the morning we will head to the Cotopaxi National Park, where you can appreciate one of the highest and most dangerous volcanoes in the word that was recently active, we will visit the Limpiopungo lake and then drive up to the refuge to 4,800 m (15,744 ft), from there is possible to hike to the glacier. After Cotopaxi we will stay in a mountain lodge in the highlands.

2

Quilotoa

In the morning we will start with a delicious breakfast and start our drive to the Quilotoa, once we get to the Quilotoa village we will descent to the shore of the lake and it’s possible to rent a horse to get back to the border of the caldera where the car will be waiting for us to head to the Chimborazo area where we will spend the night

3

Chimborazo

Today after breakfast we will drive up to the Chimborazo refuge located at 4,800 m (15,744 ft.) of altitude, from there we will start a trek up to the second refuge, the peak has an elevation of 6,263 m (20,548 ft), Chimborazo is the highest mountain in Ecuador. Chimborazo is not the highest mountain by elevation above sea level, but its location along the equatorial bulge makes its summit the farthest point on the Earth’s surface from the Earth’s center, after we will head back to Quito and arrive around 7 pm after a great highlands experience.

About Barefoot

Barefoot Expeditions is an adventure travel company based in Ecuador and California, with unique trips all over Ecuador, The Galápagos Islands and Peru We are local operators with over 10 years of experience in Ecuador and The Galapagos Islands.